My plan shows my rail apex at .61 inches from shape3d generic shortboard. I ghosted the shape and rocker of a lost crowd killer in 6’8 round tail.
All I can find is the rail band recommendations at greenlight. So should I go with the modern full rails with 5/8 tuck and 1.5 in rail mark?
I realize the apex is the outline of the template and needs to be maintained. Am I trying to center the apex with the rail mark and the tuck mark? or should it be 60/40 or 70/30 or something split top to bottom? This is my first board and I am hand shaping it from an eps blank with a planer and hand sanding. Help is greatly appreciated. I am trying to gain a complete understanding of all aspects of this building process. It has been an enjoyable learning experience so far and I only hope that the board will be somewhat rideable.
Search the archives and read Barnfields comments on Rail Bands. He posted two exstensive threads; One on Longboard Rail Bands and a second one on Rail Bands in general. Just type Barnfield on the search function and both posts will come right up.
I read the long board one. I am trying to get actual measurements that I can go off of.
I have searched many times and read the longboard post. The original huge railband post was linked but the links are dead and the download zip file is also dead.
The greenlight chart is a good place to start, you can scale the numbers to match your thickness so in your case multiple the apex value by 2.75/2.5. I personally wouldn’t recommend doing that for this board but I prefer thinner rails. Below is a good video with a good explanation on copying rails. He recommends .25” above and below your apex mark.
Try these PDF files links.
That 1 1/8 line above the apex stays constant from the tail to the nose except the 12 inches at the nose and tail correct? Is that the only line that is held constant throughout the bands?
He says he uses 1 1/8 for all his boards from 2.5 inch to 3.25” thickness. What size would the bottom tuck be? Does that taper completely front to back (15 - 22 from tail) or is it fairly constant only tappering in the front 12 inches and close to the front fins?
Do you have boards you can measure? I’m far from an expert but for a board where I want a thinner rail I will start by cutting my tuck which will taper. The BB thread on rails has an image that shows the taper at the tail. I’ve measured tucks on boards I own to get an idea of where to start. Once I’ve done my tuck I mark out 1 1/8” from the bottom and start cutting my first deck band. My goal is to cut to the line at the center and taper the nose and the tail so that the distance from the top of the tuck and the bottom of the deck band (Bill calls this the template band) is the same. I’m sure more advanced shapers will want to modify the radius of their rails nose to tail and will taper the height of their template band. For me I don’t have the skills to do that and keep left and right symmetric.
One device that will make it easier when it comes to taking measurements is a carpenter’s combination square.
Use the 1/2” tuck and 1 1/8”
Do your tuck first tapering it to nothing at the front of your leading side fin mark.
Make sure your tail block is 1/2” thick or maybe 9/16 if you want some buffer room
Then mow your deck band down to the 1 1/8 mark through the center and taper it into the nose and the tail.
The vertical side wall into the nose will taper down to the stringer thickness at the tip of the nose and then the tail will taper down to basically square 1/2”.
The vertical side wall that’s left should be a smooth line that’s pleasing to the eye and follows the curve/foil of the board
I think a safe bet is to use an AL Merrick rail.
That Kazuma video is the best. Follow that.
I followed this and really appreciate all the input here from everyone! I am about done with the rails. Its a learning process and I am working with limited tool set in south america but taking my time and working hard. I will try to post up some pics later today. The nose area I am not too sure how to thin out properly. The tail is also still too thick. I was afraid to take too much foam off the top of the tail and it appears thicker front of fins out the back vs the forward part that I started screening slightly.
I have some thick wire that I will wrap around the rail and see how it measures out as the kazuma video shows and try to use that as a guage for the rest of the rail.
